WiR 4.19.08: Miscarriages in Mass

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Hello, Everyone. I swear I'm not going to talk about Math Bus in this piece. Nope. Not gonna happen. Let's just move on, shall we? So what's the biggest thing that happened/is happening this week? I suppose it's that the Pope is here in America. It's looking like he's here to apologize for the sex abuse scandals, talk about human rights, and chastise us for embarking on an aggressive war. However, These aren't the most crucial issues of his arrival in the New World. What's most important is that the Pope spoke at a Church about 200 yards away from my apartment and it was more than a little annoying. A two hour talk at St. Joseph's church required 4 days of police preparation and starting Thursday night things really started to get out of hand. Sure, leading up to the event I guessed it would be kind of exciting that the Pope Mobile would whiz by my apartment, but what I really wanted to know was were the buses still going to run on time? I've got places to be and I'll be damned if the Pope is going to make me late or worse, prevent me from getting to where I need to be at all. Here's where things got most infuriating and are representative of a larger problem in this country and the way "security" is handled.

Leading up to Il Popa's arrival, streets were being barricaded, but none of them were being closed. Moreover, there was not a single piece of information on the Transporation Authority's website and the Police Department's website said very little about whether any of these streets would be closed. We asked a couple cops, "are there going to be streets closed? Can we cross York Avenue? Will we be trapped in our apartment?" Their response was, "we can't tell you that?" Why? Why can't we know if we're going to be prohibited from leaving our apartment or crossing the street that connects us with the rest of Manhattan? What does withholding this information from taxpaying, law abiding citizens achieve? Here's my theory: it makes it look like they're doing something without actually doing anything of real substance security wise. If regular people think something is so important that they're not allowed to know what's going on, then the police must have it under control, right? In reality, not telling me when I can't cross the street merely pisses me off. What it doesn't do is actually prevent anyone who'd be willing to cause the Pope harm. It's the same with airport security. Every little stupid security measure they inflict on us is only put in place to make it look like something is being done on the surface. Long lines, no liquids, taking your shoes off, turning your laptop on and off, etc. These measures achieve nothing and it remains quite easy for anyone truly willing to do harm to do it. So god damn it, I'm going to see a broadway play tonight and I want to know if I can leave my neighborhood. Just give me a time frame so I can adjust accordingly. What is so hard about that?

A few hours before Big Daddy Pope's arrival, I walked around for a little and there were at least 500 cops in a one block radius. They're all pretty good at standing around doing nothing, but one thing they can't do is stop all the Catholics from littering. I saw one dude in front of 6 cops stuff some sort of large eyedrop vile down into a drain. Hello? Isn't this why you're all here? To stop suspicious behavior. Or are you here because of the New York City Police Department's long association with Irish Catholicism? Hmmmmm. I don't think the Dalai Lama got this much protection and special treatment when he came and according to my anonymous friend, "he's much cooler than the Pope."

That's enough about the Pope. A lot of crazy news came out of Connecticut in the last couple of days. I've been saying Connecticut is a weird place for years now and I'm glad others are starting to take notice. First, there's someone who is building a 26 toilet mansion in Greenwich. The neighbors that have to deal with the noise of the construction of this place are pretty pissed off about what's going on, but I'm siding with the owners. I think all the extra effort for the 26 toilets is well worth it. As someone who urinates frequently I say, why stop at 26? How about a baker's dozen if you can afford it? If it were my place I'd install at least one urinal every ten paces or so.

The other crazy news that came out of Connecticut this week was a story from Yale University's Art program. According to this article an art student at Yale got herself pregnant and then induced miscarriages as many times as possible during a nine month period. She videotaped these experiences and saved the blood. This was all done as part of her senior thesis gallery showing. I'm all for a woman's right to choose, but what the hell is going on here? This isn't someone who got pregnant by accident and now wants an abortion. She was purposefully creating life to destroy it. Not only that, but she says she's doing to "get people thinking". About what? I think most people will agree that this bitch is nuts and should be punished somehow. Am I nuts, but I don't think any pro-lifer, pro-choice, christian, atheist, liberal, conservative, man, woman, American, or foreigner would think this is acceptable behavior. Even for art's sake. Wait a second. What if that's it? What if this womyn figured out what the one thing was that would unite all of humanity across any divisional line. Even though she would have to commit the most vile act she knew that it would save all of us? No? You don't agree? Yeah, you are probably right. I'm just all swept up in Pope Fever. It's got me thinking all biblical and shit.

And that's all you needed to know about this past week. Trust me. See you next week.